Shining Light on LEDs: Energy Savings

With the rapid advancement of lighting technology, LEDs are quickly surpassing the efficiency of more traditional lighting, including fluorescent and incandescent sources. Progress Lighting offers china led lights that meet strict requirements for maximum energy savings and superior performance.

When you select a high-quality LED fixture, you can expect a significant ROI from an energy conservation standpoint. Here are some of the energy saving benefits of LEDs from Progress Lighting:

LED sources use at least 75% less energy than incandescent lighting, allowing homeowners to save on operating expenses.
LEDs last 35 to 50 times longer than incandescent sources and approximately 2 to 5 times longer than fluorescent lighting. This means less bulb maintenance.
LEDs do not produce heat like traditional sources, 13W LED Panel Light reducing cooling costs. Traditional incandescent bulbs waste 98% of the energy they consume on heat.
LEDs do not use power when they are turned off.

Although the upfront costs are more expensive, 26W LED Panel Light pay for themselves in an estimated three years timespan due to the significant energy savings. According to MSN Real Estate, LED lights, which are up to 90% more efficient than incandescents, can result in an annual lighting bill as low as $26.

Not sure how to incorporate LED lighting into your home’s design? Stay tuned as we unpack LED lighting applications in the home in our Shining Light on LEDs series next week on the blog!

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Father’s Day is only a week away, and you know what that means: it’s time to scramble to get those last-minute gifts if you haven’t already. We know that not all dads are electricians or lighting designers that would appreciate the gift of brand new LED lighting or electrical wire. So, we’ve put together a list of gifts that 1000Bulbs.com has to offer that will appeal to those of led light supplier you looking for something that you know the father in our life will love.

For the Collector

authentic models boatIt’s difficult to get away with playing with toy cars, airplanes, and ships once you’ve reached a certain age, but that doesn’t mean you have to let go of the appreciation for them. Whether your dad is a racing, sailing, or aviation enthusiast, we have handcrafted model cars, boats, and planes that he will be proud to display on his mantle. In addition to these models, we have other vintage reproductions including collector’s games, nautical accessories such as compasses, bells, and clocks, and more.

For the Tech-Savvy Dad

If you haven’t heard, backlighting your televisions and computers is becoming a popular way to not only make your tech devices look cooler, but it also helps to reduce eye strain when looking at a bright screen in the dark 12w LED downlight suppliers. One way to accomplish the back-lit look is by using strips of LED tape light to create a soft glow around the edges of your screen. USB tape light can also be used for easier application on computer monitors. This could be a great gift for the dad who watches sports in his dimly-lit man cave with his buddies or works on his computer late at night.

For the Holiday Enthusiast

Does your dad look forward to putting up the Christmas decorations every year? Does he have to have the best looking lightkeeper prohouse on the block during the holiday season? If so, he may appreciate the gift of new Christmas lights. At 1000Bulbs, we have a huge selection of holiday lights and decorations that will make any house sparkle. If your dad has all the Christmas lights and decorations he needs 9w LED downlight suppliers, there are always accessories like bulb testers and mini light caps to ensure light strings are functional and the bulb remain damage-free.1

For the Car Lover

If your dad is anything like mine, keeping his car in impeccable condition is a top priority. Instead of having to run to the store every time one of his headlights burns out, wouldn’t it be nice if he had exactly what he needed on hand? If you don’t know what kind of automotive lights he needs – don’t worry; we can figure that out for you. Just enter the year, make, and model of his car into the part finder, and we’ll take to the exact replacement bulb his vehicle requires.

Nepal’s garment exports surge 52.8% in first 8 months

The exports of readymade garments from Nepal increased by a sharp 52.8 percent to Np Rs. 3.615 billion (US$ 37.633 million) during the first eight months of interlining the ongoing financial year that began on July 16, 2013, compared to exports of Rs. 2.366 billion during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to the figures released by the Trade and Export Promotion Centre.

Woolen carpet exports fetched Rs. 4.801 billion during the eight-month period, showing a rise of 36.1 percent over Rs. 3.527 billion exports made during the same period in previous financial year, the data showed.

The exports of cotton, polyester and other yarns earned Rs. 4.028 billion for Nepal during the period under review QST Interlining, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, while fabric exports grew at 5.9 percent year-on-year to 3.76 billion.

Exports of woolen and Pashmina shawls from Nepal increased by 0.6 percent year-on-year to 1.466 billion during the eight-month period, as per the data.

Meanwhile, Nepal’s imports of articles of apparel and clothing accessories jumped by 22.4 percent year-on-year to Rs. 7.707 billion, whereas its imports of man-made staple fibres climbed 14.1 percent year-on-year to Rs. 6.723 billion Curtain Interlining. Imports of cotton yarn and fabrics also increased by 4.4 percent to Rs. 3.158 billion.

In fiscal year 2012-13 that ended on July 15, 2013, Nepal earned Rs. 5.66 billion from exports of woolen carpets, Rs. 3.824 billion from readymade garments, Rs. 5.835 billion from yarns, Rs. 5.399 billion from fabrics, and Rs. 2.179 billion from woolen and Pashmina shawls.

In comparison, Nepal spent Rs. 4.373 billion on import of cotton yarn and fabric, Rs. 8.711 billion on man-made staple fibres, and Rs. 8.99 billion on articles of apparel and clothing accessories.

The Longines Telemeter Chronograph

Longines continue their 180th Anniversary celebrations with a new, but retro piece, the Longines Telemeter Chronograph.

A Telemeter on a watch  measures distance based on the speed of sound, a scale which is perhaps familiar to enthusiasts of military pieces where it was once used as a crude type of range finder.  Maybe you are more familiar with the Tachymeter scale, which is used to measure speed.  Each was created to be a useful addition to a watch dial, one is often accompanied by the other.  To feature both scales on a watch dial along with chronograph counters, presents the designer with a certain conundrum – how to maintain readability of the indications with such a level of on the dial busyness.  The Longines Telemeter Chronograph accomplishes this challenge by using references to their 1930′s timers – an era when such features on a watch were not simply there to add interest, but were a widely used scales of measurement – and thus the result is a superbly elegant vintage-styled timepiece.

Housed in a fine and dapper 41mm trim-bezeled case, the Longines Telemeter Chronograph has a crisp white lacquer dial as a backdrop for its overlapping indications and curly Arabic numerals.  Both scales are marked in red, the telemeter on the tapering outer rim of the dial, the tachymeter seductively curled in the centre.  The three counters, the small seconds at 9 o’clock, the 30 minute at 3 o’clock and the 12 hour at 6 o’clock are laid on top, each with a fine railtrack edge.  Blued Breguet-esque hands complete the refinement.

Inside is the Longines L688 automatic chronograph calibre, column-wheel of course, with a power reserve of 54 hours.  The Longines Telemeter Chronograph comes presented on a hand-stitched black alligator strap.

The Breitling Chronomat 44 GMT – Tiny, but not reduced.

Perhaps not as flashy as some of the brand’s other show offerings, the Chronomat model has remained a firm favourite since it’s inception in the early 1940s among travellers who require a reliable, unfussy instrument to facilitate timekeeping across many timezones and who are perhaps less inclined to use their possessions to showboat.

Indeed the Chronomat has been an important element in the Breitling armoury down the years, quietly accounting for a large proportion of sales against it’s  more obvious sibling, the Breitling Navitimer.

This year’s edition is presented in a ‘modest’ 44mm stainless steel case and promises – according to the  Breitling press release – to ‘conquer all wrist sizes on all continents’, although I think 44mm is still a sizeable watch on a more diminutive wrist, so I’m not so certain about that factual accuracy of the above claim.

The Breitling Chronomat 44 GMT contains the in-house COSC chronometer Calibre 4 automatic movement, which simplifies the changing of hours on location by thumbing the crown back or forwards, while the red arrow-tipped GMT/second timezone pointer remains in position to display the time back home. Rotating the brushed steel bezel offers one further timezone setting.

The Chronomat 44 GMT is available on this nice crocodile leather strap as well as a choice of perforated or ridged rubber or the classic pilot’s bracelet.  I do think I like the added little detail of the square outlined within the circular confines of the dial, exaggerated by the cut of the applied steel hour markers.  However, as always with the Chronomat model, it is very nicely laid out with all features and functions being clearly legible and easy to use.

So, whilst the Chronomat 44 GMT may remain the understated member of the Breitling family, it is a pleasant modern rendition of a model which today enjoys classic status and will be the first choice for many a discerning traveller.

I’m still not so sure that it’s the watch for all wrists on all continents though…. smaller it might be, but small it is not!

The IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month – KERS System As Standard.

New for 2012 is the IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month.  You may be familiar with the IWC Top Gun Collection, in honour of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School – techy and exciting stuff.  Now IWC produce a piece at the other end of the aeronautical scale – a tribute to the iconic Spitfire, the plane described by those who flew her as the “closest to perfection, ever”.

The piece will be IWC’s first Pilot’s Watch to feature a perpetual calendar, digital date and a stopwatch display.  A Perpetual Calendar takes into account the variation of the days in each month, and also leap years using a marvellous mechanical memory comprising of several hundreds of parts which quite literally count 1,461 days – or four years.  On this piece the leap year is indicated in a small aperture at 6 0′clock.

The IWC Calibre 89800 inside has a few functional innovations – in order that the complex disc system required to advance the three digital displays does not drain the power or effect the amplitude, a power-saving mode kicks in, storing up energy released as each nightly date change occurs, power which will be used when the system is under most strain, at the end of each month and year – think of it as a horological KERS system.  A trick feature, but then IWC have been pioneers of digital displays for more than 100 years.

On the sun-burst slate dial everything is neat, legible, functional and balanced.  Another innovation, the stopwatch function which times the seconds using the central chronograph hand, has its hours and minutes displayed on a totalizer at 12 o’clock, and it is a flyback chronograph enabling a quick reset to zero – features which combine to produce ultra fast/read at a glance usefulness, features which lead IWC to describe this piece as a “watch-within-a-watch”.  Quite.

The automatic Calibre 89800 produces a more than generous power reserve of 68 hours and has a unique winding rotor in the shape of a Spitfire, which can be viewed through the sapphire crystal caseback.   Housed in an 18 carat red gold 46mm case, the IWC Spitfire Perpetual Calendar Digital Date-Month comes presented on a brown alligator leather strap.

The Junghans 1972 Collection – An Olympic Watch – No it’s not Omega

Being a timing partner at the Olympic Games – well, it’s such a historical moment in any watchmaking company’s timeline that it would be simply rude not to “milk it”  just a little…. and the Junghans 1972 Collection celebrates the company’s ties with the world’s most famous sporting event.

 
It’s not all about Omega.  Yes they were the first brand to officially time all the events back in 1932 and they’ve done it more than anyone else, but there have been others.  Junghans and Longines combined forces to time the 1972 Games in Munich, and they both brought with them some innovations.  It’s hard to comprehend that the Multi Counter which Junghans used that year at the rowing event was the first ever with the ability to track each boat individually and they were the darlings of the press with their fancy new colour imaging finishing line photographs which they distributed to the media for worldwide use.

Junghans are no youthful brand.  They were founded in 1861 in Germany’s other watchmaking heartland located in the Black Forest.  They once had one of the largest watch factories and were one of the biggest producers of chronometers in the world.  Their mechanical watchmaking was halted in 1975, but they continued to be at the cutting-edge of quartz movement production, culminating in the release in 1990 of the world’s first radio-controlled watch, the Mega 1.  Recent times have seen them return to traditional watchmaking, with their Meister Collection which re-visits the creation of mechanical calibres using, where possible Schramberg-made components.

The Junghans 1972 Collection takes inspiration from the styling of the era – there’s a little bit of case spill-over, some bright colour tones, stubby markers, broad hands and a knife-edge rotating bezel.  The Chronoscope has chubby tonneau-shaped counters and a barely-there small seconds, the Mega Solar is plainer but more technical.  Three models of each will be available, all so distinctly “seventies” in appearance that all that’s missing is a wrist hair-grabbing stretch link bracelet.